CAIRO
A lawyer of ousted president Mohamed Morsi was attacked by supporters of the military-backed authorities outside an eastern Cairo court where the ex-president and 14 other defendants are standing trial on charges of inciting the killing of demonstrators outside the presidential palace in 2012.
Mohamed Selim al-Awa, a veteran lawyer who defends Morsi in the case, was disrupted by Morsi's opponents, who tried to attack him and destroy his car outside the trial venue in eastern Cairo, according to an Anadolu Agency correspondent.
Morsi's opponents chanted "traitor" at the veteran lawyer, but policemen guarding the courthouse quickly intervened to protect al-Awa and get him inside the courthouse.
Supporters of the ousted president were not seen outside the trial venue.
Morsi along with 14 other defendants, including several other high-ranking Muslim Brotherhood officials – face charges of inciting the murder of protesters outside Cairo's Ittihadiya presidential palace in December 2012.
Seven of the trial defendants are being tried in absentia.
Mohamed al-Damati, a spokesman for lawyers representing other defendants in the same case, told reporters earlier that Morsi had asked al-Awa to challenge the court's jurisdiction to try him.
Morsi was removed from office – and subsequently imprisoned – by Egypt's military last July following protests against his presidency.
He did not show up to a second trial session on January 8. At the time, security officials cited "bad weather" as the reason for their apparent failure to transfer Morsi to the trial venue in Cairo.
In previous court sessions, Morsi has insisted that he still represents Egypt's legitimate president, refusing to recognize the trial's legitimacy.
By Amr Hasan
englishnews@aa.com.tr
